Fau Davie Weighs Expansion

April 27, 2000|By KARLA SCHUSTER Education Writer

TALLAHASSEE — Florida Atlantic University will study offering freshman and sophomore classes at its Davie campus, prompted by a plan to add state universities in Broward and two other counties that died on Wednesday in a House committee.

Although FAU officials bitterly opposed the plan, the debate over it served as "sort of a wake-up" for the school, which now offers only upper-division courses at its Broward campus, said Mary McBride, vice-president of the Davie branch.

"I don't think this [bill] would have worked ... but I do think we need to revisit the issue of freshman and sophomore programs at FAU in Broward in a few select programs" such as teacher education and nursing, McBride said.

House Bill 2247 was killed in a series of procedural maneuvers in Education Appropriations committee. It would have turned the Davie campus, which is a partnership between FAU and Broward Community College, into its own university.

Under the current partnership, BCC offers lower-division courses and FAU offers upper-division undergraduate classes and some master's level programs.

"The Broward campus serves about 6,000 students.

FAU and state university officials have waged an all-out battle over the proposal before legislators, which also would have created new universities in Sarasota and Pinellas County.

Sen. Don Sullivan, R-Seminole, sponsor of the Senate companion bill, SB 2448, has argued that the state universities are too focused on research and doctoral programs. Rep. Debby Sanderson, R-Fort Lauderdale, the bill's sponsor, wasn't there for the meeting. Sullivan presented the bill for her.

New schools are needed, Sullivan said, to allow more students to pursue undergraduate and master's degrees. According to a study by the state's Post-Secondary Education Commission, Broward and Pinellas are the only two counties ranked in the top 20 nationwide for population that do not have their own public universities.

But the death of HB 2247 on Wednesday had little to do with education policy -- it was killed by mistake. Rep. Ron Greenstein, D-Coconut Creek, and Rep. Ken Sorenson, R-Key Largo, who had originally supported the bill, switched their votes when it was re-considered.

Both mistakenly thought they were voting against an amendment to the bill, not the bill itself.

"Procedurally, it got confused," Greenstein said after the meeting. "The Senate bill is slated for floor debate next week. But unless a House member can tack the plan on as an amendment to another piece of legislation in the lower chamber, the proposal is dead for this year.

"We just lost the whole goddamn thing," an angry Sullivan said to Herb Polson, government relations director for the city of St. Petersburg, which supported the plan.

Over the past several weeks, several versions of the plan have made their way through House and Senate committees. Some called for the creation of the new universities, others simply for a study to determine if they are needed.

The House version that reached the committee on Wednesday called for a study, but Rep. Evelyn Lynn, R-Ormond Beach, offered a sweeping amendment that eliminated the study, and moved the third new state university from Broward to Volusia County.

The new version passed on a 6-5 vote.

Rep. Ron Greenstein, asked that the vote on the bill be reconsidered, on behalf of another panel member, Rep. J.D. Alexander, R-Frostproof, who had missed the first vote. Also, Greenstein said he wanted to kill the amendment, so the bill would only call for a study.

On the second vote, Greenstein and Rep. Ken Sorenson, R-Key Largo, switched their yays to nays, and the bill died, 7-4. An attempt to reconsider the bill a third time was shot down because time had run out.